( ioi ) 
X. Remarks upon the DiUenian Herbarium. By Dawson Turner, Esq. 
F.R.S. A.S.&L.S. 
Read April 19, 1803. 
X he Historia Muscorum of Dillenius is a work of so great autho- 
rity, as well for the excellence of its figures and descriptions as 
for the extensive knowledge and consummate accuracy of its 
author, that it must be regarded as the surest medium now 
left us of becoming acquainted with the various tribes of Mosses 
and Algae described by Linnaeus and all subsequent writers down 
to the present day. In referring to this work, however, it has 
not unfrequently happened that differences of opinion have arisen 
as to the plants really designed by the learned Professor, and a 
confusion of synonymy, than which nothing is more perplexing 
or injurious to science, has necessarily been the consequence. To 
remove this in some measure appeared a task likely to be not 
altogether useless, and the only certain mode of effecting it was 
evidently by a careful reference to the original specimens. With 
this design Mr. Joseph Woods and myself, therefore, on the 
28th of February last, went to Oxford, where, by the kindness of 
Professor Williams, we were allowed to examine the Herbarium 
now preserved in the botanic garden at that city. It is the result of 
this examination that is here offered to the Linnean Society ; but 
it may be well in the first place to observe that our expectation 
was not disappointed ; for the specimens, which are in good pre- 
servation, 
